Acts 10:11

10:11 He ¹  saw heaven ²  opened ³  and an object something like a large sheet ⁴  descending, ⁵  being let down to earth ⁶  by its four corners.

Acts 11:5

11:5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, ⁷  an object something like a large sheet descending, ⁸  being let down from heaven ⁹  by its four corners, and it came to me.

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¹ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

² tn Or “the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

³ tn On the heavens “opening,” see Matt 3:16; Luke 3:21; Rev 19:11 (cf. BDAG 84 s.v. ἀνοίγω 2). This is the language of a vision or a revelatory act of God.

⁴ tn Or “a large linen cloth” (the term was used for the sail of a ship; BDAG 693 s.v. ὀθόνη).

⁵ tn Or “coming down.”

⁶ tn Or “to the ground.”

⁷ tn This term describes a supernatural vision and reflects a clear distinction from something imagined (BDAG 718 s.v. ὅραμα 1). Peter repeated the story virtually word for word through v. 13. The repetition with this degree of detail shows the event’s importance.

⁸ tn Or “coming down.”

⁹ tn Or “the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).